The amount of registered users of social media is consistently growing year after, with a current record of 1.59 billion active monthly users of Facebook and 205 million Twitter users in the fourth quarter of 2015 (statista, 2016). The vast volume of social media users alone make the use of social media for companies appealing, as there are so many potential customers they could connect with. This blog will be drawing attention to the benefits and potential negatives of a company adopting the use of social media, whilst also providing examples of how companies are currently using it.
Benefits
Create a brand community
Companies are constantly seeking ways to strengthen the bond and brand loyalty with customers in order to keep customer retention. McAlexander et al (2002) claim that this can be done with the use of a fan page on social media. If a fan page is created then a brand community will develop, where individuals can communicate with one another talking about that particular brand. Below is an example of users on Imperial Leathers fan page sharing comments about their favourite product.
(Facebook, 2016)
Increased brand recognition
Social media is an excellent form of marketing for creating awareness, whether it be to the brand itself, or towards the products it produces. However it is particularly good when used for a newly formed company or for when a new product range is being released. (Forbes, 2016) suggest that the presence of the new product/company on social media creates familiarization, which enables people to retain awareness of the new product. Below is an example of how shower and bathing brand Imperial Leather posted images of their new foam blast shower gel on Facebook to inform their current customers whilst also hoping to gain new ones by keep appearing on other users newsfeeds. From February to April 2016, a total of six posts regarding the product foam burst were posted on Imperial Leather’s Facebook page, which suggests that they are trying to create awareness and familiarization of the product.
(Facebook.com, 2016)
Allows better communication with the public
Some social media sites, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr are quite informal, therefore when businesses are communication on these websites they are able to act more like people and less like businesses, resulting in customers feeling more connected to the brand. Furthermore, companies using social media are able to communicate directly to a problem or query that a customer may have. By doing this, not only does it generate greater brand loyalty by that one individual, it also allows any other social media user to witness how well the company treat their customers and how they deal with any problems, which could result in the company gaining customers. In effect, this helps to improve trust and credibility of the brand. By companies communicating back and forth with customers on social media, they are able to adopt the Social Penetration Theory. Carpenter & Greene (2016) claim that the Social Penetration Theory is when direct communication occurs between two parties in which both give self-disclosure, a more intimate relationship will occur, thus beneficial for companies as customers will become more brand loyal. Below is an example of where Sainsbury’s have comically replied to another twitter users comment.
(Molloy, 2015)
Enables the opportunity to convert customers
By having a social media presence, companies are able to communicate and generate awareness with those customers that have no current intention of shopping with them, that they would not usually be able to interact with. For example loyal Tesco shoppers may have no intention of swapping to another grocery store and therefore would not actively look at other supermarkets to buy. However, if the Tesco shopper is a social media user then there is no way of them being able to avoid other companies. So, even though they had no intention of shopping at Aldi, they could not escape seeing advertisements from them, which may in fact influence that individual to change their supermarket once they see that Aldi is far cheaper than Tescos. This demonstrates a huge benefit for the use of social media when marketing in order to convert customer’s form other brands.
(Facebook, 2016).
Potential Drawbacks
Cost
nibusinessinfo.co.uk (2016) claim that although the cost of creating a page on any social media website is free, costs at maintaining the page could considerably increase. For the page to be a success, there will need to be a team dedicated to managing the social media websites, so that responses can be made quickly to any query, whilst also continuously creating posts to remain in the public eye. Having a team dedicated to social media will cost a considerable amount over time.
Ineffective use
It is not easy to make a social media page a success and there have been times where companies have unintentionally damaged their own reputation. For example when McDonalds tried promoting its brand by encouraging users to use the hash tag #mcdstories to share any memories they have of McDonalds (Casti, 2013). The intention of this hashtag was to receive positive memories from customers, however, quite the contrary happened, with many customers sharing horror stories that they had encountered instead. This highlights how companies need to be really careful when creating posts to ensure that there is no way that their reputation could be damaged.
Useful Links
http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/02/10/5-essential-steps-to-success-in-social-media-marketing/
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/218160
Bibliography
Carpenter, A. and Greene, K., (2016). Social Penetration Theory.
Casti, T. (2013). The 5 Most Notorious Brand Feuds on Twitter. [online] Mashable. Available at: http://mashable.com/2013/10/12/twitter-brand-feuds/#_hAvF.QqNuqX [Accessed 15 Apr. 2016].
Facebook.com. (2016). Security Check Required. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/imperialleatheruk/timeline [Accessed 16 Apr. 2016].
Forbes.com. (2016). Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/#79a949912a4d [Accessed 15 Apr. 2016].
McAlexander, J., Schouten, J., Koenig, H. (2002) Building Brand Community, Journal of Marketing. Vol. 66, No 1, p28-54
Molloy, M. (2015). 10 of the most brilliant customer service exchanges ever seen on Twitter. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2015/12/010/10-of-the-most-brilliant-customer-service-exchanges-ever-seen-on/ [Accessed 15 Apr. 2016].
nibusinessinfo.co.uk. (2016). Using social media to support innovation. [online] Available at: https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/using-social-media-support-innovation [Accessed 16 Apr. 2016].
Statista. (2016). Number of Facebook users worldwide 2008-2015 | Statistic. [online] Available at: http://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ [Accessed 16 Apr. 2016].